TED Blog » Inside Outhttp://blog.ted.com
The TED Blog shares interesting news about TED, TED Talks video, the TED Prize and more.Tue, 31 Mar 2015 18:09:20 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/909a50edb567d0e7b04dd0bcb5f58306?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png » Inside Outhttp://blog.ted.com
Not a bug splat: This massive portrait is a message to drone operatorshttp://blog.ted.com/an-inside-out-portrait-that-delivers-a-message-to-drone-operators/
http://blog.ted.com/an-inside-out-portrait-that-delivers-a-message-to-drone-operators/#commentsMon, 07 Apr 2014 17:59:52 +0000http://blog.ted.com/?p=89252[…]]]>This portrait of a girl tells a story larger than the massive piece of vinyl it is printed on. Unfurled in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan, “#NotABugSplat” was created by a collection of artists and activists, using TED Prize winner JR’s Inside Out campaign, to send a message to drone operators, who reportedly call their kills “bug splats” because they appear small and grainy on screen. The idea is to “create empathy and introspection amongst drone operators,” explains the project website.

Below, an image JR posted about this Inside Out project via Instagram:

“Most of the projects I’ve done it was like, ‘Ok, I‘ve seen that place on the media. I want to go and see for myself,’” he says. “That’s how I’ve started all my projects; just taking a flight and going there.”

JR says that there is just one constant in all the places he visits — that the people are welcoming and excitedly offer to show him the city, including good places to paste. (North Korea was the one exception to this rule, he says, because there he was under constant surveillance.) It’s for this reason that, when he won the TED Prize in 2011, he founded the participatory art project INSIDE OUT, which allows anyone to have their portrait printed JR-style and to paste it up with a social purpose.

“When I was pasting my first posters, I did it with a community in a suburb of Paris … I couldn’t show up [because] I knew the police would catch me. So I had to leave the people to interact and they would answer the questions in their own way; they would make their own formula of what the art means to them. And I was like, ‘Wow! Their explanation of it is actually much more interesting than mine.’ So I kept on going this way,” JR tells Rose. “When I did INSIDE OUT, I said it’s just about them — I’m just a printer. When I started that, people told me, ‘Why are you giving all your secrets away? … I’m like, ‘No, actually, the more you give — the [more] comes back. The people took ownership — they own it.”

]]>http://blog.ted.com/jr-appears-on-charlie-rose-talks-about-his-artistic-process/feed/4emmietedINSIDE OUT turns images into global action from the North Pole to Malawihttp://blog.ted.com/inside-out-turns-images-into-global-action-from-the-north-pole-to-malawi/
http://blog.ted.com/inside-out-turns-images-into-global-action-from-the-north-pole-to-malawi/#commentsThu, 01 Aug 2013 23:33:59 +0000http://blog.ted.com/?p=80560[…]]]>Since TED Prize winner JR launched his INSIDE OUT project in 2011, thousands of people have contributed their faces to the world’s largest public photo gallery. And now the project has made its way to the northernmost part of the Earth. A group of 16 environmental activists used the project to protest industrial destruction of the Arctic. They arranged a thousand portraits into the shape of an eye, placing the mosaic on the North Pole’s snowy canvas — almost like planting a flag. Their message: “Now we have the eyes of the world, at the top of the world, watching over the world.”

By displaying more than 120,000 paper portraits, citizens around the world have enlivened their cities by revealing their faces and the stories they represent. Here, more INSIDE OUT images that show ordinary citizens taking extraordinary action in communities worldwide.

Brooklyn, NY/Iran: After learning that only one person from Iran had participated in the world’s largest participatory art project, Saman Arbabi pasted the faces of 40 people who were killed in the aftermath of the 2009 Iranian presidential elections.

Malawi: In a show of solidarity, a small group of citizens in Mangochi, Malawi, set sail to honor the identities and stories of food and fishing laborers in their community.

London: Skaters in London banded together to save a beloved skatepark from closure by pasting their portraits at the Undercroft at the Southbank Centre — to protect a space that inspires and invigorates them.

Washington DC: INSIDE OUT’s 11M campaign uses participatory portraiture to inspire onlookers to look beyond statistics about undocumented immigrants and into the eyes, hearts and humanity of all people who “call America home.”

]]>http://blog.ted.com/inside-out-turns-images-into-global-action-from-the-north-pole-to-malawi/feed/6JR-NorthPole_IOPjamiaawilsonJR-NorthPole_IOPBrooklyn, NY/Iran: After learning that only person from Iran had participated in the world’s largest participatory art project, Saman Arbabi pasted the faces of 40 people who were killed in the aftermath of the 2009 Iranian presidential elections.Malawi: In a show of solidarity, a small group of citizens in Mangochi, Malawi set sail to honor the identities and stories of food and fishing laborers in their community. London: Skaters in London banded together to save their beloved skate park from potential closure by pasting their portraits at the Undercroft at the Southbank Centre to protect a space that inspires and invigorates them. Washington DC: INSIDE OUT’s 11M campaign used participatory portraiture to inspire onlookers to look beyond statistics about undocumented immigrants and into the eyes, hearts, and humanity of all people who “call America home.”Turning Haiti, Tunisia and the West Bank inside out: A documentary on JR’s worldwide participatory art project to air on HBO tonighthttp://blog.ted.com/turning-haiti-tunisia-and-the-west-bank-inside-out-a-documentary-on-jrs-worldwide-participatory-art-project-to-air-on-hbo-tonight/
http://blog.ted.com/turning-haiti-tunisia-and-the-west-bank-inside-out-a-documentary-on-jrs-worldwide-participatory-art-project-to-air-on-hbo-tonight/#commentsMon, 20 May 2013 15:56:03 +0000http://blog.ted.com/?p=75989[…]]]>

“We use images like a weapon to fight for social causes,” says a man in the trailer for INSIDE OUT: The People’s Art Project, a new documentary that airs on HBO tonight. The doc tells the story of JR’s INSIDE OUT, a global art project in which anyone, anywhere, can send the artist a portrait and have a poster-sized version sent back to them for pasting in public spaces.
JR: My wish: Use art to turn the world inside out
Since the project’s launch in 2011, when JR received the TED Prize, these oversized black-and portraits with a faded polka dot motif in the background have become a fixture on the walls, fences and sidewalks all around the world. To date, more than 130,000 INSIDE OUT posters have been pasted in more than 100 countries.

INSIDE OUT: The People’s Art Project, directed by Alastair Siddons, isn’t about untangling the identity of JR — who always appears in public wearing Ray Bans and fedora. Instead, it aims to show how people around the globe have made this fascinating project their own. Yes, cameras show JR in his Paris studio but, from there, they travel to Haiti, where photographer Benoit has pasted up dozens of images of those living in tent cities following the devastating earthquake of 2010. The message: that while hardship continues in the country, people remain infused with hope.

The film goes on to bring viewers to North Dakota and the West Bank, where major INSIDE OUT actions have been launched, as well as to Tunisia, where portraits of everyday people are revolutionary in and of themselves. “We were always seeing pictures of the dictators,” says an INSIDE OUT artist in the country. “Now it’s people—Tunisians.”

JR, the man behind the participatory global art project INSIDE OUT, has parked a photobooth truck in Times Square, from now until May 10. Photo: Instagram/newyorkermag

On an unseasonably chilly Monday evening in Manhattan, hundreds stood in line in Times Square for up to two hours. As a city-dweller for seven years, I’ve seen queues this long for big Broadway openings or on New Year’s Eve. But this line was formed for a very different purpose — for people to have their faces and stories featured in what JR describes as “the biggest art gallery in the world.”

JR: My wish: Use art to turn the world inside out
It’s been three years since TED Prize winner JR made the wish to turn the world INSIDE OUT with a global collaborative art project. As a documentary about the project premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last weekend, JR decided to use his time in New York productively. He hatched the plan to park a truck with a photobooth on-board in the middle of Times Square, as he’s done in other cities before. As soon as I heard about this project, I knew that I wanted to be one of the volunteers for the truck’s inaugural night in my hometown.

When I arrived in Duffy Square (the northern triangle of Times Square), stunning rows of freshly pasted black and white portraits covered the ground. Smiling, smirking and winking visages of passersbys — with homes as diverse as the Bronx and Tokyo — replaced the usual bareness of the concrete. Throughout my shift, elders, painters, skateboarders, toddlers and even NYC’s infamous Naked Cowboy posed for INSIDE OUT’s camera, adding their photos to the street-side quilt of images that breathed life and humanity into the street.

As an INSIDE OUT volunteer, I learned how to capture and distribute large-scale portraits and make and apply wheat-paste. Over and over again, commuters interrupted their busy and purposeful strides and stopped to behold “the people’s art project.” Since I was adorned in INSIDE OUT’s trademark black and white spotted t-shirt, I was repeatedly asked about the origins of the project, how people could get involved, and how much it would cost to buy the portraits. Almost everyone eagerly jumped in line after learning that they could participate by giving their time, image and elbow-grease to help paste pictures.

Placing the faces of strangers side-by-side in a collective masterpiece created a powerful sense of community. People marveled at the process of taking their pictures in the speckled black and white photobooth and watched in awe as their likeness printed from the side of the truck. I spoke to one man who was so addicted to the practice of snapping and pasting his photo, that he has followed JR’s installation to three cities around the world, including Tokyo and New York.

As I walked away from Times Square, I thought of the thousands of people who have contributed 120,000 portraits to city walls, streets and countless other surfaces from Tunisia to South Dakota. I wondered if volunteers in the each of the 110 countries INSIDE OUT has touched experienced what I did. Did they see giggling children who were shorter than the portraits of their likeness dance blissfully with images of themselves? Did they witness a bride and groom take photos in their wedding finery and paste their pictures next to each other to symbolize their bond? Or, did they see what I repeatedly witnessed, a sense of recognition, pride and purpose in the eyes of folks who were given a moment to be truly seen– with big, bold, authentic, and honest emotion.

“The people’s art project” gave New Yorkers a chance to choose to remain anonymous while also being visible. By providing us with an opportunity to pause and be present together, INSIDE OUT created a humbling a sense of intimacy in the most populous city in the United States.

Help INSIDE OUT transform the city! If you live in New York City or will be visiting between now and May 10, email nyc@insideoutproject.net to volunteer by yourself or with a group.

This has been an exceptionally busy time for JR. In addition to the documentary and New York actions, JR also recently released the digital book, The Wrinkles of the City, Los Angeles — an ode to the inhabitants of the city who’ve lived there for decades, through myriad cultural changes. Right before heading to New York, JR stopped in Berlin, where he and his crew similarly pasted 15 walls with images of older Berliners. At the same time, JR also released an app which allows fans to browse Inside Out projects across the world through a beautiful map.

JR takes a self portrait of his team on the red carpet of the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary, “INSIDE OUT: The People’s Art Project,” premiered on April 20. TED’s own Anna Verghese was on hand and said of the premiere, “Alastair Siddon’s film is a glowing testament to the passion and commitment of the hundreds of thousands of people JR’s wish has inspired worldwide.” Photo: Instagram.com/jr/

A shot of Inside Out posters on what used to be a boardwalk in The Rockaways. Photo: Instagram.com/jr/

Residents of Red Hook paste up Inside Out images — as JR announces that he’s taking over The New Yorker’s Instagram account. Photo: Instagram.com/jr/

The Inside Out truck stationed in Times Square. Says TED’s Anna Verghese, who was there as it parked, “Hundreds of people descended upon Times Square to share their faces and stories. It’s a great reminder of the power of art to start a conversation.” Photo: Instagram.com/jr/

An aerial shot as more people paste their Inside Out images in the center of Times Square. Photo: Instagram.com/jr/

An image of a building in Los Angeles, included in JR’s iPad book, “The Wrinkles of the City, Los Angeles.” Photo: JR-art.net

Another view of a pasted building in Los Angeles. Photo: JR-art.net

The wrinkles of Berlin. Photo: JR-art.net

A screenshot of a new app that lets you look up INSIDE OUT projects by their location. Photo: JR-art.net

]]>http://blog.ted.com/a-gallery-of-jr-mania-the-artist-takes-manhattan/feed/8Art-versus-Advertising-featurekatetedArtist JR's phototruck is parked in Times Square, New York City, through May 10 for a project he calls "Art vs. Advertising." Photo: http://instagram.com/newyorkermagJR takes a self portrait of himself and his team on the red carpet of the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary, "INSIDE OUT: The People's Art Project," premiered on April 20. Photo: Instagram.com/jr/A shot of Inside Out posters on what used to be a boardwalk. Photo: Instagram.com/jr/Residents of Red Hook paste up Inside Out images -- as JR announces that he’s taking over The New Yorker’s Instagram account. Photo: Instagram.com/jr/The Inside Out truck stationed in Times Square. Photo: Instagram.com/jr/An arial shot as more and more people paste their Inside Out images in the center of Times Square. Photo: Instagram.com/jr/An image of a building in Los Angeles, included in JR's iPad book, "The Wrinkles of theCity, Los Angeles."Another view of a pasted building in Los Angeles.Wrinkles-of-the-City-Berlin-2A screenshot of a new app that lets you look up INSIDE OUT projects by their location.